Swarm Intelligence - References in Popular Culture

References in Popular Culture

Swarm intelligence-related concepts and references can be found throughout popular culture, frequently as some form of collective intelligence or group mind involving far more agents than used in current applications.

• Science fiction writer Olaf Stapledon may have been the first to discuss swarm intelligences equal or superior to humanity. In Last and First Men (1931), a swarm intelligence from Mars consists of tiny individual cells that communicate with each other by radio waves; in Star Maker (1937) swarm intelligences founded numerous civilizations, composed of flocks of birds or, as the universe cools, energy-efficient swarms of burrowing slugs; ultimately all intelligence in the universe swarms into a single entity barely capable of perceiving the Supreme Moment.
• The popular Soviet SF writer Sever Gansovsky, in his short story "The Master of the Bay" (1962), described a sea monster consisting of microscopic particles which could self-organize into a single entity.
• The Invincible (1964), a science fiction novel by Stanisław Lem where a human spaceship finds intelligent behavior in a flock of small particles that were able to defend themselves against what they found as a menace.
• In the dramatic novel and subsequent mini-series The Andromeda Strain (1969) by Michael Crichton, an extraterrestrial virus communicates between individual cells and displays the ability to think and react individually and as a whole, and as such displays a semblance of "swarm intelligence".
• Ygramul, the Many - an intelligent being consisting of a swarm of many wasp-like insects, a character in the novel The Neverending Story (1979) written by Michael Ende. Ygramul is also mentioned in a scientific paper Flocks, Herds, and Schools written by Knut Hartmann (Computer Graphics and Interactive Systems, Otto-von-Guericke-University of Magdeburg).
• In the 1979 book Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter, one of the protagonists has extended conversations with the group mind of an anthill.
• Swarm (1982), a short story by Bruce Sterling about a mission undertaken by a faction of humans, to understand and exploit a space-faring swarm intelligence.
• The Borg (1989) in Star Trek
• The Hacker and the Ants (1994), a book by Rudy Rucker on AI ants within a virtual environment.
• Hallucination (1995), a posthumous short story by Isaac Asimov about an alien insect-like swarm, capable of organization and provided with a sort of swarm intelligence.
• The Zerg (1998) of the Starcraft universe demonstrate such concepts when in groups and enhanced by the psychic control of taskmaster breeds; the Zerg's original leader, the Overmind, was generally thought of not as an individual with a central intelligence to control others but instead as a being which embodies the hive mind of Zerg that are mentally linked.
• Wyrm (1998), a novel by Mark Fabi, deals with a virus developing emergent intelligence on the Internet.
• In The Matrix movies (1999), the robotic sentinels exhibit signs of swarm intelligence. Additionally, in The Matrix Revolutions, a machine called the Deus Ex Machina uses a swarm of thousands of insect-like robots to form a giant animated face.
• In the computer RPG Planescape: Torment (1999), the protagonist encounters monsters called cranium rats, which grow more intelligent in larger groups. The game features encounters with individual rats, small groups, and a very large group that identifies itself as "Many-as-One".
• The television series Stargate SG-1 has entities known as replicators (2000). Individually they only existed for their own survival, consuming and avoiding danger. However they also were able to link up all other replicators in the area. This made it possible, like the Geth in the later Mass Effect, to have vastly superior intelligence than would be expected from such a basic entity. This allowed them to defeat opponents that individually dwarfed them by a large extent in terms of intellect and size due to cluster computing.
• Decipher (2001) by Stel Pavlou deals with the swarm intelligence of nanobots that guard against intruders in Atlantis.
• In the video game series Halo, the Covenant (2001) species known as the Hunters are made up of thousands of worm-like creatures which are individually non-sentient, but, collectively form a sentient being. Once a Gravemind has been formed, the Flood also has a Swarm Intelligence.
• Prey (2002), by Michael Crichton deals with the danger of nanobots escaping from human control and developing a swarm intelligence.
• In the Peter F. Hamilton Commonwealth Saga novel Pandora's Star (2004), the Dyson Aliens exhibit elements of swarm intelligence with their linked immotile brains and motile ancillary units.
• The science fiction novel The Swarm (2004), by Frank Schätzing, deals with underwater single-celled creatures who act in unison to destroy humanity.
• The novella Human Readable (2005) by Cory Doctorow is set in a future where ant-based routing is widely used for traffic and communications, and explores their potential drawbacks.
• In the anime Soukou no Strain (2006), unmanned robotic drones known as TUMORS display signs of swarm intelligence as they attack in groups.
• In the video game Mass Effect (2007), a galactic race known as the Quarians created a race of humanoid sentient machines known as the Geth. Geth are said to possess limited artificial intelligence and problem solving skills when alone, but automatically network with each other when in groups. This means that the machine's ability to solve problems increases in correlation with the size of the group.
• Talus (2010) by Erol Ozan deals with an exotic life form powered by swarm intelligence emerging from the telepathic minds of kalonoro, Madagascar's cryptic hominids.